DC's Next 3 Hot Neighborhoods

We already know what's been on fire recently: NoMa, Capitol Riverfront and the East End (liberally defined as 14th to 7th and and Logan Circle to Shaw). But what about the next 15 years, for those of you who want to stake your claims on the frontier?

Developer Jair Lynch, whom we snapped Friday, identifies the three next hot neighborhoods: H Street NE; the McMillan Reservoir/Brookland/Bloomingdale area; and Union Market/Gallaudet/NY Ave. He's active in the first two. This month, for example, he's opening the first of his three projects on the 600 block of H Street: an 85k SF repositioned office building that will be fully tenanted by the DC government and features a new CVS. He's also started construction on 307 mixed-income units (with 10k SF of retail — perfect for a local restaurant given the booming dining scene on the street); and he's contemplating what to do with an older office building that could convert to hotel, apartments or condos.

We visited H Street the other day, where they're testing the back-to-the-future streetcars. Jair's also beginning plans 2.5 miles north of there with Trammell Crow and EYA for 2M SF of development at McMillan: 1M office, 600 apartments with retail that he'll focus on, and 150 townhouses from EYA. They just finished zoning entitlements last fall. Jair and other stellar panelists will be talking about all of this tomorrow morning at Bisnow's "Explosion of Northeast DC" summit in NoMa. Last call!

Note how Jair is now an accomplished businessman carrying a mature and dignified valise…

Not a bright blue gym bag, as he might have carried as an Olympic Silver Medalist 19 years ago. Now he applies his style and nimbleness to amazing developments.